Carrot, Stick..... Or Carrot Stick? Why grammar matters!

He is also a perfect individual to teach you about Commas and their use!

Commas tell readers to pause and take a moment to understand what a sentence is about.

Put a comma after each item in a list

Don't put a comma before the word "and" - although many grown ups will tell you this is OK and called the "Oxford Comma"!

Put a comma after a group of words that belong together

They separate ideas within a sentence or items within a list.

for example - The shopping trolley was piled high with cereals, drinks, fruit, vegetables and bread.

Commas help you by showing you where to take a breath. They also show meaning.
Pickle likes carrot sticks and we use them to persuade him to do things! There is also another method of persuasion which grown ups often talk about called "carrot, stick". This means that you offer a reward and a consequence when you want children to do things!

This method would never work with Pickle, he needs encouragement and no threat as with most animals. Adding that comma makes all the difference - even to a Guinea Pig.

Initially, getting him in from his outside run proved rather challenging. At times, it took upwards of 45 minutes to persuade him to come close enough to grab him and if he hadn't finished eating no amount of calling or treat offering would work!... (I told you he was smart!)

Eventually, after a year of training this is how I get him in.

With the emphasis on "I". He refuses to do this for anyone else!

Thing is, if you are a young guinea pig about town who values his street cred. it's not so cool to be seen to be cooperating so diligently. Treat-offering with shouting has absolutely no impact whatsoever. The "carrot, stick" (where "stick" is the shouting!) option is utterly ineffective.

Don't make the mistake of trying to get them to live together though - it rarely works and the guinea pig comes off worst :( Pet stores often put baby guinea pigs together but it's ok before puberty apparently!